Fox Valley Real Estate: Week of September 21–25, 2026

This week the resale market and the national headlines told two different stories. Nationally, the freshest number is a record buyers’-market reading; locally, well-priced homes in the Tri-Cities and Naperville are still moving in three to six weeks with multiple offers. The real throughline wasn’t a sale price — it was the pipeline. Yorkville put another $35 million behind its water project, Oswego sent a dense subdivision proposal back for a rewrite, and Sugar Grove tightened its own data-center rules just as Aurora’s did. Rates, meanwhile, kept creeping toward 7%.

Aurora (including West Aurora and downtown)

West Aurora is still the group’s affordability entry point — median list price around $414,000, new construction closer to $385,000. The far west side is adding inventory for two different buyers: solar/tankless-water-heater new builds, and Del Webb’s first Chicagoland community in 15-plus years, landing in the 9th ward for the 55-plus crowd. Downtown, council approved a second residential development just three months after greenlighting a 246-unit building on the Fox River. Worth flagging: city officials confirm existing data centers are already pushing utility costs up, even with some of the state’s strictest data-center rules — a quiet drag on an otherwise good-value market.

North Aurora

The final phase of the $52 million North Aurora Road project starts Sept. 29 — replacing the 110-year-old railroad bridge, with widening and a sound wall to follow. Expect construction impacts near that corridor into late 2027, worth factoring into showings and commute talk. Separately, Silverthorne Homes moved its 99-home Silverleaf development into presale pricing.

Batavia

Batavia remains the value anchor of the group: the August median sold price was around $460,000, homes averaged just 8 days on market, and sellers got 100.3% of list. The $400,000–$650,000 range is still the sweet spot for buyers wanting Kane County schools without Tri-Cities pricing. An all-departments council update Sept. 21 covered a busy docket: the Austin Park playground breaks ground late this month, roughly 850 trees go in this fall and spring, and council approved a roughly $30 million Family Aquatic Center replacement targeting 2027.

Geneva

Geneva is still one of the tightest, most competitive markets in the Tri-Cities, with homes typically going under contract in around 43 days. Plan on routing around construction if showing the west side: a Fox River Trail stretch near Route 31 closed Sept. 14 for about two months for a sewer project, and underground electric work near Miller Road runs into early October. The Planning and Zoning Commission forwarded its Sept. 10 items to City Council for final action Sept. 21.

Sugar Grove

The Grove, Crown Community’s 760-acre master-planned community at I-88 and Route 47, keeps rolling — Area 1’s 214 single-family homes are under construction with first deliveries this year, and the eventual mix adds townhomes, apartments and a town center. That’s the supply story to watch in the western Valley for years to come. On zoning, trustees stopped short of a blanket data-center moratorium but now require special-use approval for data centers in M-1 zones, worth tracking near the Route 47 interchange.

Naperville

Naperville’s average home value sits around $636,000, up about 4.4% year over year, and well-priced listings still go pending in 20 to 28 days. But the market has shifted from spring: buyers report roughly three offers per home rather than a dozen, and higher-priced detached homes sit longer as move-up buyers get selective. Not a buyer’s market, but no longer a free-for-all. The Sept. 16 Planning and Zoning meeting was canceled for lack of cases, with the next one Oct. 7.

Oswego

Oswego’s downtown push continued: the village awarded nearly $63,000 in economic incentives Sept. 17 for building improvements, and the long-vacant former village hall at 113 Main St. is finally being redeveloped into a three-story restaurant and office building. On growth, plan commissioners pumped the brakes Sept. 10 on 182 single-family homes and 295 townhomes proposed on farmland west of Oswego East High School, citing density and traffic and sending it back for revision. The village is drafting a new Comprehensive Plan and remains a co-owner of the regional water project with Yorkville and Montgomery.

Yorkville

Council approved another $35 million in debt certificates Sept. 18 for its share of the $224.4 million Lake Michigan water sourcing project, after the project’s federal loan was delayed roughly nine months. The full $400 million effort must be built out by end of 2027 — a long-term cost that eventually shows up in water bills. Data centers remain the other big story: Pioneer’s roughly 1,037-acre, 14-building Project Cardinal carries a development agreement promising $51 million in upfront community payments to schools, fire and city projects, and Prologis’s 540-acre, 24-building Project Steel starts first-phase construction around summer 2027. New residential keeps coming too, with Grande Reserve townhomes still adding supply.

County and rate backdrop

Kane County’s August median sale price was $408,000, up 5.9% year over year, with total sales up 13%. Kendall County’s average home value is $396,573 (+3.0% YoY), with homes going pending in around 16 days. Rates crept higher through the week: Freddie Mac’s weekly average hit 6.95% for the week ended Sept. 17, up from 6.76% the week before, and the Mortgage Bankers Association’s survey — released Sept. 23 — put the contract rate at 7.12% for the week ended Sept. 18, the highest since May 2024. MBA’s Mike Fratantoni said the rate “vaulted higher” after the Fed’s Sept. 16 increase. Forecasts still generally call for the 30-year to hover in the 6%-to-7% range, but this week’s prints are testing the top of that band.

National watch

The freshest national number this week was Redfin’s August report on buyers versus sellers: sellers outnumbered buyers by 57.9% nationally, which Redfin calls the strongest buyers’ market in its records back to 2013, up from 52.1% in July. Redfin senior economist Asad Khan framed it simply: today’s house hunters “can afford to be choosy.”

Worth remembering Redfin is a brokerage with its own interest in a headline that flatters buyers into shopping. The complicating case, per CNN’s Sept. 21 reporting, is that buyers aren’t capitalizing on that leverage: mortgage purchase applications are down roughly 19% year over year and home tours are down about 3% since January, pointing to affordability and uncertainty keeping people sidelined. The shift is also concentrated in Sun Belt metros — Nashville, Miami and Houston topped the list — which reads more like local oversupply than a nationwide reversal. Chicago didn’t crack the top ten, and nothing in this week’s Fox Valley numbers looks like a buyers’ market: homes here are still going pending in three to six weeks with real competition on anything priced right. The national headline is real, but it isn’t our headline yet.

The bottom line

Locally, pricing discipline still matters more than headlines: well-priced homes move fast, overpriced ones sit, and the real changes to watch are happening in council chambers rather than on listing sheets. If you’re weighing a move in Aurora, the Tri-Cities, or anywhere in Kendall County, I’m happy to walk through what this week’s numbers mean for your situation.

Sources: Kane County Reporter; Zillow; Redfin; O’Neil Property Group; Monarque Real Estate; Kombrink; Shaw Local/Kendall County Now; DataCenterDynamics; Citizen Portal; Video News Service; Country Herald; Freddie Mac PMMS; Mortgage Bankers Association (via Weekly Real Estate News); CNN; Illinois REALTORS 2026 Annual Forecast.